The Teddybear Extravaganza Online Show is going on now. Please come visit!! :)
Here are my bears in the Teddybear Extravaganza Online Show:
Teddybear Extravaganza Online Show - Preview Today 4:00P.M.
I am excited to be participating in the Teddybear Extravaganza Online Show, which will run March 21 - 23. There will be 75 international bear artists participating.
Here is Remy, my preview bear. He is a OOAK (one of a kind) 6 1/4" tall jointed bear and is made of Schulte mohair that I hand dyed. You can vote for him or any of the other preview bears as your favorite here.
Emaline - New Miniature Mohair Artist Bear in Etsy Shop
Emaline, a new Ellifolks miniature mohair teddy bear is now in my Etsy shop. Emaline is 2 1/2" tall. She is wearing a handmade skirt of lace trim and a bead necklace of vintage glass beads. She has a peach-colored vintage millinery flower by her ear.
She is all hand stitched, and I dyed and shaded her red mohair. You can see her here.
Oona Ellibeans in Ellifolks Etsy Shop
Oona Ellibeans, a little whimsical mohair doll is now available in my Etsy Shop. You can see her here.
Oona is hand dyed and shaded. She has a super big mohair head, a crooked smile, and a ffluffy mohair skirt. Oona sports cotton floss pigtails. her eyes are vintage mother of pearl buttons. Oona has hand dyed wool felt arms that are thread jointed. Her legs are purple hand dyed wool felt. Please come visit her!
Wookie, Whimsical Mohair Panda in Etsy Shop
Wookie, a whimsical mohair panda in now in my Etsy shop. Wookie is made of sparse hand-dyed mohairs. He has one glass eye bordered with a wool felt flower and one orange vintage button eye ringed with a red embroidered circle. He is about 4 3/4" tall and is wearing a linen cord collar with a rusty jingle bell.
You can see Wookie here. Please come visit if you get a chance. Wookie has been adopted.
Suzette, New Miniature Mohair Bear
I finished a new bear. Suzette is a 3 1/4" miniature made of a hand-dyed sparse German Schulte mohair. She is wearing a pearl cotton headband with a satin rose.
She is sold, but you can see some more photos and description here in my Etsy shop.
Sullivan New Miniature Mohair Bear in Etsy Shop
I have added my new little Sullivan, a hand dyed and hand shaded miniature mohair bear, to my Etsy shop. Sullivan is 3 1/4" tall and is dyed a pretty ochre color. He is made of a sparse Schulte German mohair with hand shaded detailing.
Sullivan has big brown glass eyes and a distressed grey-blue silk ribbon scarf. He would love for you to visit him on his Etsy page here.
Sadie and Olivia, New Bear and Bunny in Etsy Shop
I have added a new bear and bunny to my Etsy shop. They would love for you to come visit. :)
Sadie is a 6 3/4" hand dyed and hand shaded mohair bear with glass eyes and embroidered nose, mouth, and claws. Sadie is wearing a vintage rayon ribbon headband. She is made of an aged, sparse Schulte German mohair that I dyed a dusty rose color. You can visit her here.
Olivia is a 7 " hand-dyed wool bunny with glass eyes and embroidered nose. She is made of a lovely short Schulte German wool that I dyed a nice tangerine shade.
She has long, curly whiskers and is wearing a vintage flower by her ear. She can stand by herself. You can visit her here.
W.I.P. - Work in Progress, New Teddy and Rabbit
Here are two new critters, works-in-progress. The first is a hand-dyed mohair teddy being stuffed with excelsior.
And here is a hand-dyed wool rabbit that I have pinned together to get a better idea of how it will look when finished. I have eyes temporarily placed and am trying out nose thread colors.
It's so much fun when the pieces get to the place where their personality begins to show through. :)
Teddy Bear Picnic Event at the Country Plus Shop, Hopkinton, MA
I am excited to have some of my bears represented at a wonderful event, Teddy Bear Picnic at the Country Plus Shop in Hopkinton, Massachusetts on Friday August 6 and Saturday August 7. Marie Poole of Basically Bears will be showing my bears along with other wonderful bear artists including Vicki Stephan "Raspberies", Louise Bernier "Bear Witness", Tonni Bears, Sheryl Wells, Frances Harper, and Karen Seal.
Bear artists "Raspberies", Louise Bernier "Bear Witness", Jill Kenny "JK Bears", and Donna Bjerke "Bjerke Bears" will be making special appearances at the event.
Please come visit if you are in the area!!
Lucien and Dani, New Bear and Panda in Etsy Shop and on BearPile
Lucien is a sweet hand-dyed and hand-shaded bear made of sparse Schulte German mohair. He is 7" tall and is wearing an antiqued copper necklace with a vintage brass bell. He is in my Etsy shop and can be viewed here and on my BearPile gallery. Lucien has been sold.
Here is Dani:
Dani is a 6" panda made of hand-dyed and hand-shaded Schulte German mohair. She is wearing a linen string collar with a rusty jingle bell. She is listed in my Etsy shop and can be viewed here. Dani has been sold.
I hope you can come visit them!
New Bear, Aleph, in Etsy Shop -- New Rabbit, Alice, on BearPile
I have two new critters available for adoption.
Aleph is the first of my new Min-elli series. He is 4 1/2" tall of a sparse Schulte mohair that I dyed and hand shaded. He is wearing a copper and sterling silver chain collar. His limbs are cotter-pin jointed. He is available here in my Etsy shop.
Alice is a hand dyed rabbit of a sparse German mohair that I dyed and hand shaded. She is wearing a skirt made of vintage lace trim and a vintage lace trim scarf. She is holding a vintage millinery carrot. She is cotter-pin jointed. She is available here on BearPile.
Pussman & Co. Sweet Teddy Giveaway
Danielle of Pussman & Co., Pussman Stuffies is giving away the sweetest hand-dyed teddy to celebrate her three-year blogging anniversary. There are two more days to join - until March 23!
You can join the giveaway here:
http://pussman.blogspot.com/2010/02/3-year-blog-giveaway.html
Please check out her wonderful blogs and other sweet teddies, too. :) Pussman & Co, and PussmanStuffies.
Three New Teddies in my Collection
In the last few months, I have gotten three new teddies for my teddy collection. Most of my small collection is artist bears.
This teddy came from Japan and is by Rutsu. She has small, wonderful mohair teddies with a vintage look.
This teddy came from Russia and is by Natalia Tolstykina. She has a blog here that you can translate automatically into English. The teddy is made of vintage rayon and is quite heavy. I love the unique face and all the handwork on this bear.
The third teddy is by an internet teddy friend here in the U.S., Sharie Reetz. Her website is here, and you will also find links to her blog there. Her little mohair bears are brimming with character and are so endearing.
Here they are all together. :)
Birthday/Valentines Day Sale on Critters in Etsy Shop
To celebrate my birthday and Valentines Day, I am having a sale this weekend on all the critters in my Etsy shop.
Please come have a look: Ellifolks Etsy Shop .
Winnie at Bear Pile
I just joined Bear Pile and plan to add more bears there regularly.
Winnie is my first bear up for adoption at Bear Pile. She is 8 1/2" tall and is made of German mohair that I hand-dyed and hand-shaded. She is wearing a handmade skirt of vintage lace and eyelet, a handmade necklace with a vintage vegetable ivory bead, and a vintage rayon bow by her ear. She is cotter pin jointed and stuffed with excelsior and cotton batting. She has a small muslin bag with stainless and steel shot in her tummy for a nice weight. She is very loose jointed for a vintage feel, but can stand with help.
You can visit Winnie here.
Poof - New Elephant in my Etsy Shop
I have just added Poof, a hand-dyed mohair elephant to my Etsy shop. She is 7 1/2" high and is holding a vintage fabric viola with her trunk. She has glass eyes and is stuffed with excelsior and cotton batting. She is wearing a collar made of vintage lace and a skirt, also of vintage lace. You can visit her here.
New Bear and New Panda in my Etsy Shop
I have listed Gregory, a 9" primitive-style mohair bear in my Etsy shop. He is hand-dyed and shaded with glass eyes, embroidered nose, mouth, and claws of pearl cotton and is stuffed with a mixture of excelsior and cotton batting. You can visit him here. Gregory has been sold.
I have also listed Brioche, a sweet fluffy 7 1/2" mohair panda bear in my Etsy shop. He is hand-dyed and shaded ith glass eyes, embroidered nose, mouth, and claws of pearl cotton and is stuffed with a mixture of excelsior and cotton batting. He is wearing a vintage cotton lace ribbon scarf. You can visit him here.
Thomas - new mohair Bear in Etsy Shop
I have added Thomas, a new mohair bear, to my Etsy shop. Please check him out.
Thomas is a reddish-brown bear made of sparce, distressed German mohair and has glass eyes with wool felt bordering. He has a primitive, vintage style and is hand dyed and hand shaded. He is wearing a vintage rayon ribbon scarf fastened with a vintage vegetable ivory underwear button. He is 8 ″ tall. You can see his Etsy page here.
Using the Digital Camera as a Design Tool
Most of my art is designed at least to some degree as I work on it. When I am working on a teddy or other artwork, I frequently come to a place in the making, where I am stuck on a design decision. I may have several options I am considering, but am having trouble picking the right one. I try adding the different options temporarily and going back and forth looking to see which I like best, but it is hard for me to tell this way. Recently I started taking digital snapshots of my various design options. This way I can quickly go from one to another and view them in the camera. This also puts an extra step in the viewing (like looking at your work in a mirror) so your view is less biased and more distanced. I have found this so helpful. If I am really still stuck, I can upload them to my computer and view them at the same time in a photo-editing program.
Here are some snapshots I used when designing the face of a mohair rabbit and the accessories for a bear.
When I was making this rabbit, I couldn't decide what type of mouth to make, even after trying out one then the other using pins to hold the mouth in place. Finally I took a digital snapshot of both variations and by comparing the photos was able to choose the upside-down V mouth.
Here is Isabel before her accessories were added. I tried two types of bells and a flower with a tarnished copper chain, and then a fabric collar with a large vintage pearl button. I took digital photos of each variation and was intrigued to see that they all (except the flower variation) seemed to give her a boyish quality. I had already decided that Isabel was a female bear. My final solution came from a combination of ideas from the flower pendant and the button collar as you can see here.
